E-cigarettes may inflame lungs as much as cigarettes do

Indicator of lung inflammation changes as much after ‘vaping’ as after smoking

Using electronic cigarettes has the same short-term effects on the lungs as smoking conventional tobacco cigarettes, a study finds. Both products triggered sharp reductions in exhaled nitric oxide among 25 volunteers. Toxicologists view drops in the gas as a marker of inflammation that signals airway damage.

After ‘vaping,’ or inhaling e-cigarettes’ vapors, volunteers exhaled 2.2 to 3.2 parts per billion less nitric oxide than when exhaling normally. The bigger drop came after volunteers vaped a nicotine-free fluid. Smoking regular cigarettes dropped nitric oxide values by 2.8 parts per billion. An earlier study found a similar trend but couldn’t rule out nicotine as the culprit in the larger drop.

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